Seal Beach shootings: ‘Screaming, gunshots’

Scott Dekraai is led into the courtroom for his pretrial hearing before Judge Thomas M. Goethals in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 5

Scott Dekraai, left, appears at his arraignment at the Superior Court of Orange County, in Santa Ana, California with defense attorney Robert Curtis, right. ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 5

Scott Evans Dekraai, 42, listens as Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas asks for the death penalty. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 5

Scott Dekraai, left, accused of killing his ex-wife and seven others in shooting rampage at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, Calif., and his original attorney Robert Curtis at Superior Court of Orange County, in Santa Ana, Calif. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Scott Dekraai is led into the courtroom for his pretrial hearing before Judge Thomas M. Goethals in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – Witnesses described three minutes of terror and chaos inside a Seal Beach beauty salon where a gunman went on a rampage and shot and killed eight people last October, according to court documents obtained by The Orange County Register.

One victim begged for her life, one witness testified, according to a transcript of the grand jury proceeding. The killer calmly walked out of the salon with "zero expression on his face," another witness testified. The first paramedic on the scene had to step over the body of the salon owner to get inside, a third said.

Salon employee Gordon Gallego told the Orange County grand jury during the behind-closed-doors testimony that he saw suspected gunman Scott Dekraai enter through a side door shortly after 1 p.m. and walk up to where his ex-wife Michelle Fournier was styling a friend's hair, according to a transcript of that hearing.

"I heard him blurt out, this is what you wanted, or this is how you wanted it, and started shooting both girls," Gallego testified.

Gallego said he heard Dekraai fire more than 10 gunshots in the initial outburst before he and another employee fled into a bathroom, according to the transcript of the Jan. 17 hearing that was made public this morning. Gallego added that while he hid in the bathroom, he heard "constant screaming and gunshots" outside.

Then, he said, he heard salon worker Laura Webb Elody beg for her life. She was banging on the door of a nearby facial room, trying to get inside to safety, and then suddenly stopped.

"Obviously Scott followed her into there," he testified, "and she begged him not to shoot her."

Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner then asked: "What did you hear her say?"

A. You don't have to do this, please don't kill me.

Q. And then what happened?

A. He shot her.

Elody never spoke again, Gallego testified. "I heard her take her last breath."

When he finally emerged from the bathroom after the killer left and he heard policemen inside the salon, Gallego saw the bodies of seven coworkers and employees inside the salon. Another man was shot to death in the parking lot.

Witness Kenneth Caleb testified that he was eating lunch at Patty's Place, a restaurant next door to the salon, when a salon worker came through the door, "hysterical," and said: "Call the police, he's shooting everybody," according to the transcript.

Caleb said he looked out the window and, amid a scene of panic, with people running, saw the shooter walk calmly from the salon.

"He had zero expression on his face," Caleb testified. "Casual calm stroll, as if you were just enjoying the park."

Caleb said he watched as the man he later identified as Dekraai walked toward a Land Rover parked near what appeared to be his truck. "His arm immediately went up," Caleb said, "and I heard two shots discharge from a gun."

The shooter got into a white truck with no front license plate, Caleb testified.

"As he was backing out, I fixated on him," Caleb told the grand jury. "He was very calm, once again. Nothing that you would expect from anybody that had just shot somebody, or was trying to get away. He looked over his shoulder, he slowly backed the truck out...."

Nearly 100 pages of the grand jury transcript were made public Thursday over the objections of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, which is defending Dekraai in the death penalty case. Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals ordered the release of the transcript after a hearing last month in which he said he balanced the public's right of access to the judicial system versus Dekraai's right to a fair trial.

Goethals ordered the transcript be made public after he heard arguments from Ashley Kissinger, an attorney representing The Register, who argued the public has a presumptive right of access to judicial proceedings, especially in a criminal case with such significant public interest where the D.A.'s Office is seeking the death penalty.

The transcript made public Thursday includes direct testimony from eyewitnesses to the shooting rampage, from the first officer on the scene, and from a homicide detective. It did not cover statements or arguments made to the grand jury from prosecutors Scott Simmons and Dan Wagner, who presented the evidence to the grand jury. Goethals ordered those portions of the grand jury transcript to remain sealed.

The evidence led to the indictment of Dekraai, 42, of Huntington Beach, on eight counts of special circumstances murder for the deadliest mass killing in Orange County history.

Seal Beach police say Dekraai walked into Salon Meritage on the afternoon of Oct. 12, 2011, armed with two handguns and extra ammunition, looking for Fournier, 47, after arguing with her earlier on the phone over child custody.

Witnesses said Dekraai shot and killed Fournier first – at near point-blank range – and then her friend and co-worker Christy Lynn Wilson, 47, and then salon owner Randy Fannin, 61.

Todd Devoe, the first professional medic on scene, told the grand jury that he had to step over Fannin's body to get in the door of the salon. Fannin's wife was still trying to resuscitate him, but Devoe said he could see "at that point he was already dead."

The salon, Devoe said, smelled of burned gunshot or gun powder.

He testified that he moved through the salon, doing quick assessments of each victim to see if any could be saved. Wilson, still in the chair where she was getting her hair washed, no pulse. Fournier, lying next to her on the floor, no pulse.

Nearby, salon customer Lucia Kondas, 65, was lying on the floor near a hair dryer, dead. Salon employee Victoria Buzzo, 54, lay on the other side of the room, dead.

Devoe said he found customer Michelle Fast, 47, lying in the fetal position with a gunshot wound to her head, her breathing labored. She was taken to a hospital, where she died. Only one other shooting victim was still alive when he got there, he said: customer Hattie Stretz, the only survivor, with gunshot wounds to her arm and chest.

A Seal Beach patrol officer stopped and arrested Dekraai a few blocks away from the carnage during a car stop. "I know what I did," Dekraai told the officer, according to a search-warrant affidavit.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced a few days after the shooting that his office will seek the death penalty for Dekraai.

His jury trial before Goethals is tentatively scheduled to start on Oct. 15, but it is anticipated that date may be postponed.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.